Getting Lost in Axiom Verge | Making Metroidvanias

Hi, this is Mark Brown with Game Maker's Toolkit,
a series on video game design.

The Metroidvania is so in right now.

From Ori and the Blind Forest to Xeodrifter,
indie games are helping to resurrect this

dying retro formula, which involves wandering
through maze-like maps, collecting new abilities,

and using them to tackle obstacles that were
once impassable.

But I've been playing one recently that captures
the feeling of a classic Metroid game better

than any other. It nails the sensation of
getting lost, and stumbling into weird new

environments, and simply not knowing what's gonna be
around the next corner.

That game is Axiom Verge.

I'll try not to spoil it in this video, but
I will be showing some different areas and power-ups

if you're sensitive about that stuff.

Now, when I first played the game, I couldn't
quite put my finger on what made it so evocative

of those treasured Nintendo games. Surely
there was more to it, right, than the knock-off

8bit art and the trippy sci-fi setting.

But then I re-played some of the other recent
Metroidvania games and I figured it out. I

realised that while many of them slavishly
emulate Super Metroid, almost all of them

ignore the most important thing about that
game: it didn't tell you where to go.

Where that game let you get lost and made
you create your own maps - you know, paper ones, or

just mental ones - these games guide your
every move with overzealous hints and markers

- or even paths - on your in-game map.

JASON FLEMMING: B5. B5. Got it.

Now, to be fair, even Metroid did this in
later editions as both Fusion and Zero Mission

basically told you where to go. And, I'm well
aware that what worked in 1994, when the internet

was barely even a thing, doesn't necessarily
work so great in 2015.

But this is a huge part of what makes Super
Metroid so terrific. And it's what makes Axiom

Verge great too. And we also see the benefits
in a game like Bloodborne, so this video is

not just for side-scrolling games that look
like they should come enclosed in a hunk of plastic.

These games let you set out on an adventure,
choosing your own direction and your own path.

And when you stumble upon a new ability or
a boss room it feels great because you got

there. There wasn't a big flashing waypoint
on your map screen. It was all you.

Or was it? Because neither Axiom Verge nor
Super Metroid really drop you into a maze

and let you run wild. In reality, they just
give you an illusion of exploration, offering

a lot of different doors and paths that are
actually dead ends along the path to the next

goal.

But what about when you unlock a new ability?
When your brain races to think about how this will

affect previously visited areas, just like
how you reconsider everything you've seen

in a movie when you hit a plot twist. You're
the one responsible for choosing which area

to return to, right?

Well, you definitely have more choice in this
instance, sure. But, still, these games have techniques

to push you in the right direction and send
you rushing back to the next critical room

on your journey.

That room might be memorable in some way.
This area in Super Metroid, which is where

you you need to come back to once you have
the hi-jump boots, has an imposing gargoyle

face for a door which should sear it into
your memory as somewhere important.

And in this room, you get momentarily trapped
between a pair of closing gates. That brief

moment of peril should make it stick in your
brain, if only because you want to come back

and show those stupid doors who's boss when
you've got the speed booster.

Putting the room on the cusp of a new environment
is smart, too, as you get a teasing hint of

somewhere exciting to come back to.

Another clever trick is to hint at the correct
application of your new ability when you get it.

Most games in this genre copy the old Metroid
trick of doing away with tutorials by just

locking you in a room with your new ability
and forcing you to use it to get back out.

But you also see things like this: when you
get the ice beam in Super Metroid you're forced

to freeze this little guy, who just so happens
to look exactly like the critters you need

to freeze to move along the critical path.
Put two and two together, and you're back

on the trail.

//

ability, but they both lead you to the same critical
path.

I'll show you what I mean. When you get the
high jump ability you can use it to get up

here, or up here. Either way, you're lead
to this room. By giving the player two opportunities

to commit a room to memory, the game has doubled
their chance of getting to the right place.

Metroid's pathfinding trick is these navigation
terminals that fill in just enough of your

map to hint at areas you should explore, without
spoiling all the secrets.

And if you really do get lost, these games
put barriers behind you to quietly reduce

the number of possible places for you to check
when backtracking.

They might be very temporary barriers, like
the way doors lock behind you in Super Metroid

when you're in a critical room that contains
a puzzle.

This is Nintendo's way of avoiding a common
pitfall with Metroidvanias, where players

don't always know if they can overcome an
obstacle with their current skills or if they

need to come back later. By getting locked
in until you figure it out, you're left with

no doubt as to whether you're able to pass.

Or they might be barries that lock off huge
parts of the map. In Axiom Verge, you might

not put realise when you hop off this platform
that it's too high to jump back up until you

get a future ability, locking you off from
getting lost and wandering back to the beginning

of the game.

And in Super Metroid, this chamber is impossible
to climb back up without the ice beam which

means you're stuck in a hellish, volcanic
area called Norfair for a good long while.

But revisiting old areas shouldn't be dull
or tedious, anyway.

New abilities like the grappling hook and
the speed booster let you move more quickly,

you should be able to open up shortcuts, and
level design tricks like Super Metroid's hub

and spoke system help you navigate the world more easily.

And, going back the way you came can be made
more interesting, too - like how this section

in Brinstar is littered with enemies on the
way back. Or, the designer can cut out backtracking

altogether with a nice loop around in the
level design.

It's worth noting that I got completely and
utterly lost in both Super Metroid and Axiom

Verge. But that's okay. Because players have
to know they can get a bit lost, to feel that

sense of satisfaction when they finally figure
out the way.

Like how after you're trapped down in the
claustrophobic depths of Norfair for what

feels like an eternity, you're finally able
to escape. You climb up this long chamber,

literally blow your way out with a super bomb,
and break out onto the surface - only to realise

that you're right back at the very beginning of
the game.

But now you're way more powerful and adept,
and you're ready to get lost all over again

as you delve into all the areas you couldn't
access back then.

It's these narrative arcs make Metroid
games so great. But they work best when you're

given permission to get lost. When you're
encouraged to explore and when you're rewarded

for having a good memory.

So, long may this genre live on, but hopefully
the critical success of Axiom Verge will encourage

more developers to stop telling us where to
go, and just let us get a bit lost.

Thanks for watching. If you want to see a
Metroidvania that does something completely

different with backtracking, click the screen
for my video about Toki Tori 2

And please consider liking this video,
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